Russian warship, go...! W postage stamp

Postage stamp "Russian warship, go...! Glory to Ukraine!" W

As you know, on February 24, 2022, the Russian army violated the borders of a sovereign state and invaded the territory of Ukraine to annex cities and regions. However, the Ukrainian people were not subdued by the aggression of a country that is 30 times larger in size and three times larger in population. The result was not just resistance, but a worthy rebuff and struggle for their lands.

What is known about the first stamp during martial law

First of all, it should be noted that Ukrposhta did not expect such a wide publicity. Of course, a positive result was expected, but not so much. It should also be noted the focus on foreign buyers, as the stamp has two denominations. For shipments in Ukraine, the denomination F is worth 23 UAH. For foreign shipments, the W denomination is worth 44 UAH (equivalent to $ 1.5).

·         Date of putting into circulation: April 12, 2022

·         Circulation - 500 thousand copies

·         Format - 40.5x30 mm

·         Number of stamps per sheet - 6 (3x2)

·         Face value - W (44.00 UAH)

·         Author - Boris Grokh

The issue of the postage stamp "Russian warship, go...! Glory to Ukraine!" resulted not only in the support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but also in the wide publicity of the situation all over the world. Confirmation of this is the great excitement around the purchase. To exclude speculation, we even had to introduce a limit on the number of stamps in one order. Despite the record circulation for the art stamp of 1 million copies, half of the stamps were sold out in the first 5 days of the sale.

The demand increased even more two days after the stamp issue, when the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet sank. On this occasion, Ukrposhta announced the next series of stamps. This led to repeated requests from the public to issue additional stamps. But as a member of the Universal Postal Union, Ukrposhta could not violate the rules of issuing art stamps, which prohibit it.

The impetus for the creation of the brand

It is not the first time that Ukrainians have to fight for their independence and the phrase has become a kind of modern slogan of resistance and defiance of the people. It belongs to border guard Roman Hrybov, who did not accept the offer of the Russian invaders to surrender and remained loyal to Ukraine.

Although the phrase belongs to profanity, the society approved it without indignation. However, for official documents, from the point of view of ethics, the name was shortened while retaining its main motive. As for the design, Ukrposhta also offered to choose it directly by the society. For this purpose, a competition was announced, in which more than 500 artists took part, providing more than 600 works. Ukrposhta selected the 20 best and posted them on its social network page. The winner was chosen by the public.

A symbol of the Ukrainian struggle

The majority of votes chose the work of Crimean artist Boris Grokh for the future stamp design. He personally experienced the annexation after the Russian occupation of the peninsula in 2014. Currently, the author lives in Lviv and creates digital paintings.

Postage stamp "Russian warship, go...! Glory to Ukraine!" W is presented in horizontal orientation. A Ukrainian soldier is depicted in the center. The type of troops to which he belongs is not known for sure. But it could be a border guard or a marine. He has a yellow armband on his left arm and a patch in the form of the flag of Ukraine on the right. He is located on the sea coast at the top of a steep slope.

The face of the soldier is not visible, because he is standing with his back to the viewer. Not far away in the sea on the starboard side is a ship. According to the silhouette, raised Russian flag and tactical number 121 on board, it can be identified as a missile cruiser "Moscow". It was built at the shipyard in Mykolaiv and commissioned in 1982.

The soldier holds a machine gun in his left hand, and his right hand shows an obscene gesture in the form of a raised middle finger towards the ship. On the left edge of the stamp in the upper corner there are three inscriptions in black. "Ukraine" is printed in the largest font, "Ukraine" in a smaller font. The third inscription above the ship is the initials of the author. On the right edge of the stamp in the upper corner there is the coat of arms of Ukraine and the year 2022. In the lower right corner is the stamp denomination in capital Latin letter W. All inscriptions on the right side are printed in white font.